Liar, Liar
by twillandbonnie
Summary: A rewrite of the story, The Red Shoes. Harry gets a new pair of shoes and a new habit to go along with it. Reviews are simply adored. HARMIONE Non-Magic AU


A group of children stood outside of the school playing hopscotch like perfectly ordinary children. A rat faced boy hopped easily down the squares as a bushy haired girl said haughtily, "You've caught up to me now." The boy glared and continued hopping until she said once more in an even haughtier tone if that were possible. "_You _stepped on a line."

"I did not," he snarled back, glaring at her from where he stood, balancing on one foot as other children watched with interest.

"You did too," she said in return, turning to a rather plump, blond haired boy. "Didn't he, Dudley?" She looked entirely confident in the fact that he had stepped on the bright pink chalk line. It could never be said that the girl wasn't sure of herself or what she saw.

The boy named Dudley shrugged. "I wasn't watching," he said simply, looking back at his gameboy to continue playing the silly and rather violent game he had.

"I saw it, Hermione," yelled one girl from where she was lounging in a tree. "He stepped on the line." She smirked triumphantly at the children below her.

The boy glared at her. "Katie! Stay out of this. We all know you can't see straight. Saying Potter _flew_. _Honestly_."

"I have perfect vision," Katie snapped with a flip of her hair. "And I saw it with my own 20/20 eyes."

Hermione rolled her eyes as the boy started running and trying to climb up the tree to get to the smaller brunette girl who laughed before jumping off from the branches. The breathing of many of the children hitched.

"Come and get me then," Katie taunted, running off and knocking Hermione down in the process. Hermione collapsed, sprawling onto the ground before jumping up to chase Katie along with the bony boy.

"Oh you!" Hermione shrieked and ran after her before jumping back as Katie started climbing the tree, laughing cruelly at her less athletic friend. "Get down from there!" she yelled up at Katie.

Katie rolled her eyes and climbed back down. "You're _such _a scaredy-cat," she said, not even bothering to hide her disgust. Hermione glared at her and flounced off in the other direction, nearly running into a dark haired professor.

She jumped back, eyes wide. "Oh I'm so sorry, professor!" she apologized quickly, falling to the ground. The man offered a pale hand to help her up and chuckled quietly.

"So this is what children do nowadays?" he asked, pulling her up and brushing off her jumper. "I must say I'm quite offended that you think I am a professor. I am only 19 myself. I came here for an interview actually."

Hermione blushed, murmuring something unintelligible as Katie rolled her eyes in the background. "My name is Tom Riddle."

TRSTRSTRS

Two days later, the children were once again playing hopscotch with the brightly colored chalk court. A small bespectacled boy with unnaturally messy hair and baggy clothes watched in silence with a look of jealousy on his face. "Can't you make him leave?" asked one boy to Dudley who glared at his cousin who flinched and inched away from the group of kids.

Hermione felt a small pang of guilt and offered him a small smile before turning back with her friends, abandoning the game of hopscotch to skip rope with some of the other girls. Harry squirmed under the girl's pitying gaze. Tom Riddle spotted the boy, back for another 'interview,' and walked over, sitting next to the boy.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing at all," Harry lied with an empty expression on his face as he forced his eyes away from the cheerful children whose bright smiles could light up the room. Here he was in rags, more or less, while the other children wore shiny shoes and bright white tennis shoes with neat uniforms. He could see Hermione, the girl who smiled at him, in her black ballet flats and neatly knotted tie. He could see Katie in black tennis shoes and Dudley in a starched white shirt that stretched across his stomach.

"Do you wish you had friends?" he asked slyly.

Harry swallowed before admitting shyly, "Well of course I do. I wish I could at least _look _normal."

"Being normal is vastly overrated but…" Tom trailed off, not completing his thought. He left the thought hanging as bait to lure Harry in the way you would a fish.

"But what?" Harry asked curiously before looking down with red cheeks. He shouldn't be pestering adults after all. His aunt and uncle… well he shuddered to think of how they would react if they learned that he had.

Tom smiled in a way that one would interpret as incredibly kind. "But if you'd like to be I could help you."

"You could?" Harry asked eagerly, looking up with bright eyes shining.

"Of course I could," Tom said. "You could always just go to take those shoes and those clothes in the cabinet," Tom whispered in his ear, and the thought of doing it swirled around in Harry's head. "You really could."

Harry nearly stood to do so but restrained himself. "I couldn't possibly!" he protested.

Tom gave him an irritated look before replacing it with a gentle smile. "There are other ways of course." He reached into his bag and pulled out bright white shoes that seemed to come from out of nowhere. "You can have these."

TRSTRSTRS

Harry had taken them, hid them away in his own bag. His heartbeat seemed to speed up to where it was nearly pounding out of his chest. They couldn't see. They couldn't see. They couldn't see.

"Why is your bag heavier, boy?"

"My teacher gave me an extra assignment."

Lying was that easy.

TRSTRSTRS

"Professor, I would never!"

"It was Dudley I swear."

"Hermione, I've hurt my ankle. Could you help me?"

Now that he was lying, he couldn't stop. It was like the sensation he got from it intoxicated him. Him in his bright white shoes and brand new friend Hermione Granger. Dudley tried to tell his parents about Harry's newly acquired shoes, but Harry was cleverer than his cousin. He wouldn't let himself be caught.

TRSTRSTRS

"You're lying."

"No, I'm not," Harry lied with wide eyes to project his innocent image.

TRSTRSTRS

Tom sat next to Harry one Tuesday morning that Hermione was gone, sick Harry presumed.

"Do you like your new shoes?"

"Not at all." Harry smiled at him brightly, eyes flashing.

TRSTRSTRS

Hermione stood in shock before Harry. "You- you liar," she accused, short compared to his height now that they were both sixteen. It had been six years since Harry had gained those fateful shoes that never wore out and never became too small for his feet.

He glared at her coldly. "Like you've never lied."

"Never about something big! Just little white lies. Most of them to protect _you_. I can't even look at you, you _filthy _liar!"

With that, she left, leaving Harry in shock. He didn't think that what he did was too bad after all. But he felt a nagging thought worm its way into his brain. _Maybe you weren't lying. Maybe you did love her_.

But he couldn't. If he loved her, he would feel guilty, not irritated that she had found his lips attached to Ginny's.

But maybe he did.

TRSTRSTRS

It had been another year. They were 17 now, and they still hadn't made up. He glanced over at Hermione who was sitting alone at a lunch table, dark circles under her eyes. She glared up at him with an almost wistful look when she thought he looked away.

TRSTRSTRS

"Hermione," Harry said desperately, pacing around his room with his phone to his ear. "Please forgive me." The line went dead.

TRSTRSTRS

"Hermione," Harry tried again the next day. "I'll quit. I swear. I think- I think I might like you bu-" The line went dead again."

TRSTRSTRS

"Hermione, IthinkImightloveyoubutI'mnotreallysure," Harry said quickly, words blurring together as he rushed to say them all before she hung up. He waited, breath held for the line to go dead. Instead he heard a weary sigh.

"Harry, what are you going on about?"

TRSTRSTRS

Time went on, and Harry kept lying. He kept his shoes on, incredibly proud of them even then. He was 20 now, and he and Hermione were blissfully happy with the relationship that they had repaired. He was ready to give it up. He wanted to ask her to marry him.

He was walking in the woods, and he knelt down to untie his shoes for the last time and leave them there. He could have sworn he saw a tall dark figure that was shaped like the mysterious Tom Riddle. But no he couldn't have.

**AN: Hermione and Harry weren't supposed to be together when I started writing this. It just sort of… happened I guess. This is a rewrite of The Red Shoes by Hans Christen Anderson. It's a non-magic AU if you couldn't catch on. Reviews are loved and replied to.**


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